The present invention is directed to a conveyor belt cleaner which is generally mounted underneath the return run of a conveyor belt for scraping residual material from the belt. One such arrangement is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,650 owned by the assignee of the present invention. That conveyor belt cleaner provides metal sleeve members slidably mounted on a metal shaft each of the sleeve members supporting a cleaner blade. While this arrangement has proven effective, difficulty has been encountered in some environments resulting in increased frictional resistance to sliding when the sliding surfaces are metal. In some instances, chemical bonding takes place between the metal parts causing the operator to exert an undue amount of force to restore the parts to their initial sliding engagement. The majority of prior art devices also feature an arrangement in which slight clearance is provided between sliding parts.